Demise of the desktop [continued…]

Some of you may remember one of my recent blog posts “2010: Demise of the desktop?” well, a recent report by business consultancy Deloitte, published in Computer Weekly, supports my sentiment. The article states that companies will increasingly allow their workers to choose their own devices to link into the corporate network. Interesting to note it also supports the idea of a self-maintenance or ‘car allowance’ type agreement that will help to drive adoption.

I think adoption of Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) will see organisations drive applications through web services or a common architecture ‘shop window’ like a browser. There is also the possibility to use a terminal server or desktop emulation software to ensure the processing stays within the organisations data centre. Exciting stuff!

However, the first hurdle in any move toward HVD is the perceived risk associated with loss of control. These risks include; security of your company’s network and data, as well as the means of accessing your company’s electronic assets; after all the information contained within these networks is the life blood of any organisation?

So how does a company lay down enough governance to protect itself? Well, one way of course is for organisations to continue to dictate security standards i.e. making it compulsory for staff to run Anti Virus (AV) software. But moving to HVD definitely needs wider consideration – it’s a potential mine field of regulation and risk. But once standards and policies are in place, I believe there are real business benefits to be enjoyed.

So what would your top three considerations for governance in providing the ability for you to adopt the notion of employee ‘self provision’ for access to corporate compute resources?

I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to use my Apple laptop for work or maybe in a few years even an iPad!